Getting started and permissions
What you need to run Findy, how a first inspection goes, and exactly why the app asks for each permission. Every permission below maps to one specific feature — if you refuse it, only that feature stops working.
Which iPhone models are supported?
Findy requires iOS or iPadOS 16.6 or later. In practice that covers iPhone 8 and later, iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, and the iPad models that support iPadOS 16.6. If your device cannot update to 16.6, it cannot install Findy. All supported models can use the Bluetooth, magnetic and checklist tools, but infrared viewing results vary between iPhone generations and between the front and rear cameras, because the infrared-cut filtering differs across camera modules.
All supported models can use the Bluetooth scanner, the magnetic checks and the guided checklist. Infrared viewing behaves differently across models. iPhone cameras include infrared-cut filtering, and how much infrared reaches the sensor varies between generations and between the front and rear camera. A source that glows clearly on one iPhone may be faint or invisible on another.
Your first inspection
You do not need a subscription to start. The checklist, Bluetooth scanner and magnetic checks are free.
- Open the guided checklist and walk the room once with your eyes only. Smoke detectors, chargers, clocks, vents, mirrors and decorative objects first. This step finds more than any scan.
- Run the Bluetooth scanner and move slowly through the room. Findy estimates a distance and shows a direction arrow, but both are derived from signal strength alone. Treat them as "warmer or colder" while you move, not as a measurement — walls, bodies and orientation distort the reading badly.
- If you subscribe, join the Wi-Fi you actually want to inspect, then run the network scanner. It can only see the network your iPhone is currently joined to.
- Use the camera tools on specific objects at close range, in a darkened room, rather than sweeping them across the whole space.
- Use the magnetic check on one object at a time, after taking a baseline away from electronics and metal.
- Treat every flag as a prompt to go and look at the physical object. Findy shows evidence, not verdicts.
Why Findy asks for each permission
iOS shows these prompts the first time a feature needs them. You can grant them one at a time, and you can decline any of them.
| Permission | Needed for | If you decline |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Infrared viewing, the lens-glint finder and the automatic lens scan | The camera tools cannot run. Everything else is unaffected. |
| Local network | Discovering devices on the Wi-Fi you are joined to | The network scanner reports an empty network. |
| Bluetooth (always, plus peripheral) | The nearby device list and background following detection | No Bluetooth device appears, and following detection cannot run in the background. |
| Location (when in use, plus always) | Reading Wi-Fi network details, and recognising that a device reappeared in different places | Findy cannot tell networks apart, and following detection loses its main signal. |
| Notifications | Alerting you that a device may be following you, or that a new device has appeared on a network you scanned before | Alerts are generated on the device. Without this you get no alerts; detection still runs while the app is open. |
Why does Findy need local network permission?
Because iOS requires that permission before any app may contact other devices on the Wi-Fi you are joined to. Without it, the network scanner cannot browse Bonjour services or probe addresses on your subnet, so it will report an empty network. Findy only contacts addresses on the local subnet you are currently joined to.
Why does Findy need Bluetooth access?
The Bluetooth scanner lists nearby devices that are actively advertising, and the background following detection watches for a device that keeps reappearing near you. iOS requires Bluetooth always-on and peripheral access for that background watching to continue when the app is closed. Without the permission, no Bluetooth device appears at all.
Why might location permission be required?
Two reasons. First, iOS does not let an app read Wi-Fi network details, including the network name, unless location permission is granted, so without it Findy cannot tell one network from another or badge devices as new since your last scan of that network. Second, the following-detection feature needs to know that a device reappeared in different places, which is a location judgement by definition.
There is no account and no sign-up. Findy contains no analytics SDK, no crash reporting and no session replay. The only third-party components in the app are Superwall, which renders the paywall, and Lottie, which draws animations. Scan history is stored on your device. Read the privacy page.
How do I delete my data?
Delete the app. Scan history is stored on the device, so removing Findy removes it. There is no account to close and no server-side copy to request the deletion of, because Findy has no account system, no analytics SDK, no crash reporting and no session replay. Your subscription is held by Apple, not by us, so cancel it separately in the App Store if you have one.
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Last reviewed 2026-07-23 · Written and reviewed by the Findy developer.